A Forgotten Hero
by ImagineerGirl 39
Summary: Atalanta is a well known huntress. But no one has heard about her twin sister, Anaxandria, and her great deeds except for the few gods. OC and a short story.


**This story was a story for my English class and the maximum number of pages that the assignment could be was 4 pages. So all that I am really asking for are reviews and what you think of this story. If anyone really wants me to write more about this story let me know please.**

Long ago, in a land we know as Arcadia, comes a myth that not many have heard of. This is because the twin of the forgotten heroine did a greater deed. Atalanta, the great huntress, was well known throughout the Mediterranean Sea and all those around it. But few remember the beauty and heroic deeds of her twin sister Anaxandria.

Arcadia was a lush and plentiful place where the famous huntress nymph, Callisto, was born. Callisto was one of the nymph huntresses of the virgin goddess Artemis. She was turned into a bear by Hera, Queen of Olympus, when she was caught with child because of Zeus. Other myths claim that Artemis, finding out that Callisto was pregnant, was angry. When she gave birth to her son Arcos, Artemis shot her with one of her arrows. Zeus protected his lover by turning her into a bear. The day that Callisto was hunted and killed by her own son was the day that Zeus put her and her son up in the sky, to be known as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. This is the land where Atalanta and her sister Anaxandria were born into.

The day that the twins were born, cries of the newly born babes were heard throughout the castle of Arcadia. The king of Arcadia himself witnessed the birth of these two special twins. But what he was hoping for were twin boys and his disappointment was great when he found out that they were girls. The king, hoping to get boys the second time around, planned to kill both of his daughters. Although, before he could complete the deed, a messenger from the Oracle of Delphi came to him. The messenger told him that one of his daughters would make him proud while the other would be his sacrifice and his death.

Unable to decide which daughter would kill him and which one will make him proud, he came upon a revelation. The elder girl was to be left in the forest to die while the younger one was to be sailed across the sea far away from him, hoping that both would die and he could live. The older twin known as Atalanta was taken care of by a she-bear and she grew up in the forest. But for her twin, she was left alone on the shores of a place called Phoenicia. It was 2 weeks before the natives of Phoenicia found the small and sickly blue colored child.

The Phoenicians, as they were called, taught the little girl what they knew about swordplay and womanly duties, but they knew that she was meant for greater tasks. Little Anaxandria was 7 years old when she fought her own monster. At seven years of age, a soon-to-be warrior had to be taken out to the forests around their land and be able to survive seven days in the wilderness. Given only a knife made of a tiger's fang, they will have to witness and survive seven tests. Many warriors have survived the seven days and six tests but no one has passed the seventh test.

Anaxandria had heard the tales of the impassable seventh test but she did not panic throughout her ordeal. She managed to kill a Komodo dragon, save the lost old man from dying of thirst, and create a shelter for both herself and the old man with banana leaves only. She also killed a baby hydra, managed to train a baby Leucrocota (a certain species of hyena with a bony ridge in place of teeth and the ability to imitate men's voices and lure them in as prey), and beat a wood nymph in a race. When the time came for her seventh task, the old man whose life she saved brought her to an old abandoned shrine of Momos, the god of blame and child of Nyx. Here is where she met her monster. Her monster was that of the doubts and fears that pulled her down. She had all of her fears played out before her, not as a vision, but that of a real nightmare.

By the time it all ended, she was kneeling on the ground and crying soundlessly. While she was still crying, a hand touched her shoulder and when she looked up she saw the old man transform into a younger man. He told her, "You have passed every challenge that was given to you and when the time came to face your own monster, you did not cry out. Rise now, a warrior and child of the Night."

The young girl realized that she was talking to the Lord Momos himself and did as he asked. He half turned towards the door, his hand reaching back towards her and said, "Come child, I must show you something." Anaxandria took his hand and followed him back outside where her pet Leucrocota was waiting for her eagerly. He lifted her in his arms and ran. The poor girl's eyesight could not keep with the god's fast feet and by the time she stopped, her head was dizzy. He set her down gently and she realized that she was in a small clearing and in the center was a tall woman with pale skin, dark hair and eyes and a long flowing black dress.

The woman smiled and said, " Hello Anaxandria, my name is Nyx and I am the goddess of the Night." The girl bowed to her and said, " I am honored to meet you Great Lady." The goddess said to her, "Rise, you are my warrior now." Anaxandria rose and told her, "I am ready to serve you." The goddess Nyx looked at her and said, "Good."

Throughout the next ten years she trained with Moros, the god of Doom, the Keres, the gods of Death, and Anaideia, the goddess of ruthlessness. She trained with them not only to be a warrior, but also to be a demon hunter. On her 17th birthday, she was given a task. A task to hunt a demon in Arcadia. As faithful to her duty as ever, she went to Arcadia and did her best to hunt this demon. However, the demon had taken on the shape of a human man and was going to compete in a competition along with the rest of the young athletes in Arcadia. So the demon hunter Anaxandria stalked the demon and waited for the day of the competition to start before attacking the demon.

When the time came for the demon's turn to compete, Anaxandria threw a star, a flat sheet of metal that is curved around three points around a circle. The star cut off the demon's head, but it kept flying. It flew towards the King of Arcadia himself, and not seeing the danger, did not move and ended up dead on the dusty ground. The horrified girl ran swiftly to the fallen man and crouched beside him only to realize that someone that looked just like her had done the same thing. Her mirror image gaped at her and asked, "Who are you?"

Before Anaxandria could answer another demon came at her, and the girl barely deflected his attack when she made a choice. She offered the goddess Nyx her life in return for the fallen king's life, if she killed this demon. The goddess accepted her sacrifice and Anaxandria killed the demon just before falling to the ground dead. Nyx hid the body from mortals and waited till night before coming to her fallen warrior. The great goddess took the girl's body and placed it high up in the sky as a constellation just as the nymph Callisto had been. There are times at night when people look up in the sky and see Orion, but they never knew that the body was that of Anaxandria, princess of Arcadia, sister of Atalanta, warrior of Nyx, and a hero who's quest and sacrifice was never known .


End file.
